The Road To The Playoffs (Wolves vs. Blazers)

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Towns was so special tonight. Sucks though we have to work so hard to get him the ball. One problem with your most skilled player a big man

He still needs to bulk up. Ed Davis was pushing him around out there in the second half and it made it hard to get him the ball in decent spots. Wish our bigs had more bully in them. Can't only have a +1 rebounding advantage when they are playing 3 guards half the game.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

if taj is out, we are in big trouble.

its bad enough that crawford is getting minutes due to the jimmy injury, it will get even worse if dieng has to play more minutes instead of taj.

thibs goofed when he played dieng instead of bjelly when taj wasn't able to return.

[kekgeek]

Towns was so special tonight. Sucks though we have to work so hard to get him the ball. One problem with your most skilled player a big man

He still needs to bulk up. Ed Davis was pushing him around out there in the second half and it made it hard to get him the ball in decent spots. Wish our bigs had more bully in them. Can't only have a +1 rebounding advantage when they are playing 3 guards half the game.

Didn't realize it was that close we were like +14 at half time. I guess when shots go in for the Blazers hard to rebound those. Haha.

[kekgeek]

if taj is out, we are in big trouble.

its bad enough that crawford is getting minutes due to the jimmy injury, it will get even worse if dieng has to play more minutes instead of taj.

thibs goofed when he played dieng instead of bjelly when taj wasn't able to return.

I actually thought dieng was decent tonight. Crawford I believe was 1 of 9 in the 2nd half

[Lipoli390]

I didn't watch the game tonight. But the box score is pretty revealing in several respects.

First, key players failed to step up tonight. Towns apparently did all he could with 34 points, 17 rebounds and 3 blocks to go with only 1 turnover. Belly did his part with 12 boards and 8 points on 4-5 shooting. But Wiggins was terrible regardless of how good his defense might have been. He shot 7-20 from the field. We can't expect to beat good teams when Wiggins shoots 35% from the field. It's even worse when you factor in his 4 turnovers. Teague's shooting was similarly inept as he hit only 5 of his 14 shots. Again, its even worse when you consider his 5 turnovers. With Butler out, Teague and Wiggins have to score and do so at some minimally acceptable level of efficiency. Both of them obviously failed on that measure tonight. We're down to one wing off the bench. His name is Jamaal Crawford and he was 0-6 from behind the arc. That's not acceptable from a guy whose one job is to score. After releasing Bazz we have no one else to come off the bench and score. If Wiggins and Teague had each made just 2 more of their shots (Wiggins shooting 45% and Teague 43%) and if Crawford had made must 1 of his threes, the Wolves would have won tonight.

Second, the Wolves clearly lost the game in the 4th quarter again while the bench played very few minutes. That suggests the Wolves suffered from tired legs when it counted. Thibs the PBO has done nothing to shore up a bench that got even weaker with Butler's injury and he bought out Bazz, leaving us with no scoring wings off the bench other than the 37-year old Crawford. The head coach Thibs, with Teague struggling, allotted very little time to Tyus.

Finally, I'll repeat what I've said before. To win, this team needs to rely mainly on its offense. We're not going to win games scoring 99 points and we're generally not going to win many games scoring under 110. With Butler out, key guys like Wiggins, Teague and Crawford have to step up, attack the basket and hit their shots the way Towns did tonight. That's the only way this team is going to have a chance at finishing in the top 6. It's too late now to add any offensive firepower to the bench, so Thibs the PBO has failed in that regard.

At least the Wolves put up a fight tonight against a good team on the road. But these are games this team has to win down the stretch. Now it's imperative that the Wolves beat the Jazz in Utah.

[Lipoli390]

Wouldn't hurt to find someone who actually likes to shoot and make threes. Just sayin

Kind of hard to find. Just saying

They're really not. I'm not asking for a 3&D guy. I'm asking for someone who knows how to shoot three pointers. You can find them in G-League. They might suck at whatever else, but you need someone who actually believes in taking outside shots and who can make them at a somewhat decent clip. If that's so hard to find, then this front office needs yet another overhaul.

I agree completely. If we want to be an A-level team, then we need an A-level front office. Some can say it's hard and I disagree. But even if it's hard, Thibs and Layden are paid a lot of money to succeed at difficult things, not just do the easy stuff. We're had an open roster spot all season that our front office has failed to fill. Recently released players and free agents who could possibly help us have signed elsewhere -- Gerald Green, Belinelli, Ilyasova, Brewer. Yes, there are reasons they didn't signed elsewhere. But I'm looking for our highly paid front office to find and sign players here who can help us instead of letting opportunities pass by and then releasing a player so he can go help another team contending for playoff position. As you said, Wild, if it's so hard for our front office to do these things, then our front office needs another overhaul. No more excuses.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Didn't see the game, but expected a loss. I am a little heartened by the fact that it looks like we defended really well for most of the game. Not sure how Bjelly only gets one attempt from beyond the arc....

[kekgeek]

Didn't see the game, but expected a loss. I am a little heartened by the fact that it looks like we defended really well for most of the game. Not sure how Bjelly only gets one attempt from beyond the arc....

Towns and Wiggins were legit special on the defensive end last night it was super nice to see.

With belly, he was open on multiple possessions but teague didn't find him or Crawford let a crazy shot fly (made them in the 1st half missed a ton in the 2nd).

Lillard started 0-9 and missed 3 free throws (92% shooter). But when it mattered he hit some damn tough 3's.

The thing that will probably kill us come playoff time with or without Butler is we need the refs on our side. We need to get to the line. We attack, wiggins, towns, Teague, taj all super aggressive to the rack last night. If the refs allow super physical play it could be the doom for the wolves (sort of like Harden in the playoffs).

I loved the fight last night, hopefully taj dosen't miss any time. On to the next one

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Didn't see the game, but expected a loss. I am a little heartened by the fact that it looks like we defended really well for most of the game. Not sure how Bjelly only gets one attempt from beyond the arc....

Towns and Wiggins were legit special on the defensive end last night it was super nice to see.

With belly, he was open on multiple possessions but teague didn't find him or Crawford let a crazy shot fly (made them in the 1st half missed a ton in the 2nd).

Lillard started 0-9 and missed 3 free throws (92% shooter). But when it mattered he hit some damn tough 3's.

The thing that will probably kill us come playoff time with or without Butler is we need the refs on our side. We need to get to the line. We attack, wiggins, towns, Teague, taj all super aggressive to the rack last night. If the refs allow super physical play it could be the doom for the wolves (sort of like Harden in the playoffs).

I loved the fight last night, hopefully taj dosen't miss any time. On to the next one

This is the problem for a team so reliant on free throws. You really put things more in the hands of the refs, where as if you are swishing 3-point shots you are purely reliant on yourself.

Losing Taj would be a killer.....

[Lipoli390]

Didn't see the game, but expected a loss. I am a little heartened by the fact that it looks like we defended really well for most of the game. Not sure how Bjelly only gets one attempt from beyond the arc....

Towns and Wiggins were legit special on the defensive end last night it was super nice to see.

With belly, he was open on multiple possessions but teague didn't find him or Crawford let a crazy shot fly (made them in the 1st half missed a ton in the 2nd).

Lillard started 0-9 and missed 3 free throws (92% shooter). But when it mattered he hit some damn tough 3's.

The thing that will probably kill us come playoff time with or without Butler is we need the refs on our side. We need to get to the line. We attack, wiggins, towns, Teague, taj all super aggressive to the rack last night. If the refs allow super physical play it could be the doom for the wolves (sort of like Harden in the playoffs).

I loved the fight last night, hopefully taj dosen't miss any time. On to the next one

Thanks for the insights, geek. I'll have to watch the recording. Sounds like Wiggins was at least really good defensively. Very disappointing but not surprising to hear that Teague missed an open Belly on multiple occasions. He's been missing open players that good PGs would find all season. Teague is a SG trapped in a PG's body. Thankfully, when he's on his scoring can be a huge positive. As I've said many times, we can't rely on Jamaal as our only scoring threat off the bench. I love Jamaal, but he's so streaky and doesn't do anything else to help the team when he's not hitting tough shots.